Winner:
Sainsbury’s Brookwood
Deputy store manager: Mark Salmon
Size: 50,000 sq ft
Opened: 1993
Market share: 39.6%
Nearest rivals: Waitrose - 1.6 miles, Morrisons - 2.5 miles, Asda - 3.7 miles
Store data source: Analysis by CACI. Call the market planning group on 020 7602 6000
Your store is right in the middle of a refit. How’s it going? The work started in April and will be finished early November. The store is being enlarged from 50,000 sq to 75,000 sq . As well as our great food offer, it will have extended non-food, general merchandise and clothing. A mezzanine will also give us a larger café and sta area.
Why is the work being done? The store has had little investment for 10 years and needed to be brought up to standard.
Our mystery shopper was impressed there was so little disruption. How have you minimised this? This is the fifth extension I have been involved with at Sainsbury’s and I’ve learnt that if you engage with colleagues about what is going on, they will engage with the customers. We also invited customers and residents to a meeting before the build to tell them our plans and have been engaged with our neighbours throughout.
Despite all the work going on, your store still managed to score 96 - what’s your secret? It’s all down to my colleagues. They are a fantastic team. The win is testament to them working on through the build and putting up with the disruption. They are so excited and enthusiastic about the new store and have really risen to the challenge.
Why is Sainsbury’s doing so well on the Grocer 33? As a company, our goal is to deliver great service every day - consistent, brilliant service. But it’s also about the ‘magic moments’ and going above and beyond, like assisting an elderly shopper to their car or helping a customer looking for a particular product.
What difference will the newly extended store make this Christmas? It will give the store the space to really showcase the Sainsbury’s range. There’s some great products planned in food and non-food. And I can’t wait to see the faces of the shoppers when they see the store finished. It’s going to look stunning.
Mark Salmon was talking to Beth Brooks
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